


Unwilling Suspension

by Rangergirl3



Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [16]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bad Things Happen Bingo, Fantastic Racism, Gen, Keith (Voltron) Whump, Near Death Experiences
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-28
Updated: 2019-08-28
Packaged: 2020-09-28 08:22:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20422871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rangergirl3/pseuds/Rangergirl3
Summary: Keith and Pidge have been thrown into a cell. Their captors want to know the Coalition's weak points, but neither of the Paladins will tell them anything.Even though there comes a time when Pidge desperately wishes she could.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Anon: I don’t know what “unwilling suspension” counts as for the bad things bingo (like one person chained up while the other watches? or something?) but i really just wanna request a square and this seems to be the best pick out of the choices that are left. Could I also request Keith and Pidge as the the characters? Thank you so much and thank you for doing all these prompts in general!

The first thing Keith sees upon opening his eyes is Pidge, looking down at him from the other side of the cell. She's got her face and hands pressed right up against the clear glass that splits the cell in half, and from the way the glass has fogged up around her chin, she's been there for some time.

"Hey," he croaks, before wincing at how sore his throat still is. _He would have thought -_

She shakes her head, her hands tapping restlessly against the smooth glass. Sound can make it through the see-through wall, though nothing else can.

"Try not to - uh, do anything, okay? When they threw you back in there, you hit the back of your head -"

She swallows. "-_really_ hard, Keith."

_Strange._

_He doesn't remember coming back to the cell._

_Short-term memory loss...well, that's not a good sign._

Before she worries any more, he rolls his eyes, trying to make light of the injury, but everything spins and he has to close them again. He's lying on the ground, but for a dizzying instant, it feels as if the entire room is spinning around him like a merry-go-round.

Pidge curses. 

"Damn it, Keith, don't - don't _do_ that-"

He lets out a harsh laugh.

"-'kay -"

_Shit, it **hurts**._

_No, **focus**. _

_What's the situation?_

Pidge is still talking, something about - timing - and - 

_No, he can't make it out._

Maybe - maybe he should just - stay here, for now. Try not to make his headache any worse.

But he hates lying like this, flat on his back, open to any attack that might come. He could at least try to get into a more comfortable position.

* * *

Pidge clenches her fingers into fists, and it takes all of her self-control to keep from slamming them against the glass wall. It wouldn't help Keith. It might startle him, or make his headache worse.

_Though that might be difficult._

Even as that thought flashes through her mind, Keith shifts his balance. After a concentrated effort, he succeeds in rolling onto his side. The fact that his hands are cuffed behind his back make the task exponentially more difficult. 

Just then, the glass wall retracts.

Pidge doesn't waste any time. She hurries to her friend's side, intent on helping in any way she can.

* * *

_Noise, close by. A mechanism of some kind. _

Keith doesn't know what that means, but his instincts tell him it can't be anything good. 

The stones thrum beneath him, and then Pidge is at his side. He knows it's her because it doesn't hurt when she grabs him around the shoulders and begins to lever him up into a sitting position.

His stomach churns, but he concentrates on keeping his breathing even and steady, and that helps enough to calm the nausea as she helps him lean against the closest cell wall.

Then one of Pidge's hands rests against the side of his face, and the fingers of her other hand are running carefully through his hair.

"I know scalp wounds bleed a lot," she's saying, almost to herself, "but - maybe I can do something - let's see-"

* * *

As she's talking, Pidge sees Keith's tension melt away, and she realizes that she can't remember the last time anyone helped him with an injury like this. Up until now, he's just taken care of himself, like he's grown used to after years of surviving on his own.

_It must be the concussion_, she tells herself, but she knows that's not true. 

It's more than that.

He _trusts_ her.

* * *

The small moment of calm is broken when the door to their cell slams open.


	2. Chapter 2

Keith hears guards stride into the cell. Before he can do anything, Pidge is pulled away from him. But she's not phased, or at least, she isn't letting her fear show.

She snaps at the guards to "be careful, _damn it_, they've already given Keith a _concussion-"_

Then clawed fingers close around Keith's shoulders, yanking him to his feet. Keith's stomach roils, and before he can stop himself, he finds himself back on his knees, throwing up whatever small amount of food was in his stomach.

The guard holding his arm exclaims in disgust, pulling Keith back onto his feet and dragging him bodily from the room. Keith can't do anything but spit to one side, too weak and dizzy even to aim for the guard's boots. 

Somewhere ahead of them, Pidge is shouting that they can't move him, he's badly hurt. One of the guards says that they're not going far.

* * *

What feels like ages later, they come to a stop inside a room that smells like mold and years of accumulated grime.

Keith just wants to lie down, but the smell and the noise makes everything worse, and the lights are still _far_ too bright. Before he knows what's happening, he's fallen back down onto his knees.

The guards are telling Pidge something. Something important, but Keith can't understand. 

_He's going to throw up again._

Then Pidge is at his side again, trying to help him by grabbing his shoulders and helping him remain in an upright kneeling position, and when he throws up again, she gathers his hair back until he's done.

Everything hurts. His head, his throat, everything hurts so _much_. 

He just wants it to _stop_.

Then Pidge is saying something about medicine and rest, but then the guards wrench Keith away from her, and he keens weakly, because Pidge’s hands were gentle, but these hands are not. They drag him away from her, and Keith struggles, because he doesn’t want to go with them, he wants to stay with _Pidge_.

One of the voices nearest him snarls that Keith’s no use like this, and Keith tries to shrink away from it, because he doesn’t want to be ‘of use’, but before he can do anything, something cold and sharp pricks him in the neck,and then -

The pain dulls. It doesn’t recede, or lessen, but he think he might able to open his eyes now, even though it’ll hurt. Still, he hesitates, trying to listen, hoping to find out what's going on around him.

_Pidge - where’s - _

He hears her, snarling insults and threats at their captors, and he’s glad. 

_She’s okay._

* * *

The guard’s fingers tighten on his upper arm, pulling him further away from his friend, and Keith can’t do anything to resist. He can’t even open his eyes yet. It still hurts too much.

Someone’s tying a rope around his chest, cinching it tight, tight enough where even through the drugs, Keith acutely senses the discomfort.

_This...doesn’t make any sense...why would...?_

Pidge’s voice changes its tone. At first, it was fierce, defiant, angry. Now it’s - afraid.

_Why is she afraid?_

Something metal clinks against his handcuffs, and he tries to turn around, but then one of the guards shoves him from behind, forcing Keith to take two staggering steps forwards and then-

The floor drops away, and for an awful, timeless instant, he _falls. _Thena terrible, crushing pressure tightens around his upper arms, and the rope cinched tight around his chest halts his downwards progress.

Keith can't help but let out a cry of agony when the abrupt halt causes the ropes to dig into his chest. It hurts to breathe. 

Somewhere up above him, Pidge _screams_.

* * *

Keith just hangs there for a second, suspended, and then someone yanks on the rope, raising him in short, harsh, jerky motions back up to ground level.

He only knows this when he's unceremoniously dropped back onto the floor, and he doesn't even land on his feet. He just hits the ground hard enough to knock all the breath out of his lungs.

Pidge's voice is clearer, closer than it was before. 

_She's crying._

Just for a moment, anger over-rides the pain, and Keith opens his eyes in time to see Pidge reach out for him, only to be pulled back by the guards standing at her side.

"-you-_b-bastards_," he snarls. 

Then the guard who's standing by the lever twists it in a different direction, up, this time, but only _just_ high enough where Keith's feet are raised a few inches above the floor. 

He tries not to struggle. It's useless, and it'll only make things worse for Pidge.

The guard at the lever raises a finger and points it at the Red Paladin.

"See him?"

Pidge gulps back another sob and glares furiously back at the jackass who just asked the most pointless question of the freaking _millennium_. She doesn't answer, but the guard continues anyway.

"We can keep this up all day. How long you think he'll last? An hour? A day, maybe?"

When Pidge doesn't answer, the guard intentionally pushes the lever slowly upwards in several increments, the motion hitched, purposefully jolting and swaying the tortuous upwards progress.

The first jolt takes Keith's breath away. After that, he can't keep from struggling as the rope tightens around his chest with each successive tug of the rope.

* * *

"_Stop it_!" Pidge's words are harsh and shrill. She's never been this terrified before, not even when Sendak had invaded the Castle of Lions. When that had happened, she'd been able to use stealth and cunning to rescue her friends. 

All she could do now was stand here and listen to her friend's ragged cries of pain.

"_Please, **stop it**_!"

The guard standing at the lever smiles maliciously. 

"Oh, well. If you insist."

* * *

Keith hears the words, and he knows what's going to happen, but there’s no time to do anything before he’s dropped again, back down into the darkness, only to be brought to an abrupt halt once more.

He _screams_, then. It hurts too much.

Voices, above him.

Different sounds, echoing up from below him.

_Splashing._

Oh, god.

_It’s a well._

They’ve suspended him above a well.

_No, not above._

_He’s **in** the well._

All they have to do is cut the rope holding him and -

The guard's voice echoes down from above, mocking and gleeful, all at once.

"Want to say anything to your friend, Paladin? This might be your last chance."

* * *

The image of falling into deep, endless water with his hands tied behind his back terrifies Keith.

But - 

He can hear more sounds from the room above.

_**Pidge** is **crying**._

Keith lets out a slow breath and shuts his eyes. 

He doesn't want to die like this.

But he's certainly not going to make Pidge feel that it's her fault if he does.

* * *

Before he can say anything, there's a vicious pull on the rope, and Keith is hauled out of the well and back into the glaring lights of the room, where he's left swinging four feet off the ground. 

The rope's so tight around his chest now, he can barely get enough air. What's worse, the rope rotates, twisting him from side to side, making his head pound and his vision blurry, but Keith can still make out the forms of the Green Paladin and the two guards holding her in place. The third guard, the one who'd dragged Keith from the cell, is the one at the lever.

Head spinning, breath coming in gasps, Keith tries to raise his head high enough to keep looking back at Pidge, but it hurts, it _hurts_ and his arms ache and his eyes burn and he just wants it to _stop_.

But she can't betray the Coalition. She _can't_.

Pidge stares back up at him, and it's clear the exact same thought is running through her mind.

"There," the third guard says. "Aren't we _kind_. You can say your goodbyes in person."

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are amazing!! <3 I literally print off every single one and keep them in a notebook so I can have them close at hand :D
> 
> I'm on Tumblr - come say hi!
> 
> Also - sorry for the cliff-hanger ending (haha, please don't kill me.) I sort of hit a creative roadblock for this one/I'm short on sleep, so please assume that Keith and Pidge made it out just fine and recovered back at the Castle of Lions with lots of sibling affection from the other Paladins and Matt. Matt especially. :-) <3


End file.
